Choices
by Passionflare
Summary: “Eggman is dead.” Silence. Painful silence. After all, isn’t this what we wanted? Countless times he’d had his chances. Countless times he’d claimed he was “a changed man.” No, this isn’t what we wanted. Not like this. T for language and violence.
1. Epitaph One

**Choices**

_Epitaph One_

"Eggman is dead."

Silence. Painful silence. After all, isn't this what we wanted? Countless times he'd had his chances. Countless times he'd claimed he was "a changed man." No, this isn't what we wanted. Not like this. Not when the blood of a life was on _his_ hands.

I'm Sonic. Sonic the Hedgehog. You've probably heard of me once or twice. I've saved the world, transformed into a werewolf, tasted unlimited power. Oh yeah, and I'm the world's fastest living creature. Well, _he_ might not agree about that last one. I didn't want to think about _him_ just then.

"What? That's...that's impossible. Are you sure? Did you see it? This can't be...but how? Who?"

I can't really place exactly who was asking me what questions. I'm not even sure if they remember themselves. Well, those who are still alive that is. Tails, Amy, Knuckles and Cream. Why had they all been at my house when I stumbled through the door? I didn't think to ask. The next day was a blur. We held a funeral service. Who else would remember the doctor? His robots? Of course there was no body to bury. Just a simple grave, in a remote grove on angel island. I wonder how the good doctor had envisioned his demise? He probably didn't.

"Sonic!"

Ouch. A sharp jolt of pain brought me out of my daze. Black and crimson flashed in my mind as Shadow withdrew his fist from the right side of my face.

"What the hell was that for!?" I yelled, as a rush of thoughts came into my mind.

"You weren't responding."

Tch. He looked so calm. How could he after what had happened?

"You could just tap me on the shoulder like a normal hedgehog."

"I've been violently jabbing you with my forefinger for the last 5 minutes. Do you even know where you are?"

I examined my surroundings. I was on the edge of a cliff. I had no idea how I'd gotten there.

"...To be perfectly frank, I was afraid you were considering suicide. That pink stalker of yours would turn homicidal on me, and I can't have that."

"You're one to talk about homicide."

"That, my blue friend, would be the reason I came--"

"We aren't friends."

"You're right. We're more then that after the choices the good doctor made for us."

"Don't talk about Eggman. Like you have any right. Murderer."

And with that, I sped off at top speed.

But I'd forgotten that he was the only creature who could keep up.

"Sonic, we need to discuss this further."

BOOM. Speed of sound. I was used to that.

"Leave me the hell alone Shadow. I need time to think."

"I've given you two weeks to think about what's happened. Isn't that enough!?"

Two weeks? Impossible. It felt like 15 minutes. The scenery was blurring. Twice the speed of sound.

"I saw you MURDER someone, Shadow. That's not something you just 'discuss' over tea and biscuits."

"Things aren't always black and white Sonic. I had my reasons."

Reasons. Hah. I have "reasons" not to clean my bedroom. You don't just have "reasons" to kill people. You do or you don't. My body began to ache. It wasn't the running.

"STOP SONIC!"

BOOM. Two objects moving at the speed of sound colliding to the ground. Poetic. Not to mention painful.

"Get. The Hell. OFF ME."

"ONLY if you agree to discuss--"

It was then we heard gunshots. Two of them. Alongside an earth-splitting scream I'll never forget.

"Amy." We both said in unison.

_A/N: This is my first fan fiction. I've always enjoyed reading Sonic the Hedgehog fiction and I decided I'd take a whack at it. I'm incredibly open to constructive criticism!_


	2. Epitaph Two & Chapter One

**Epitaph Two**

I'm being crushed by the darkness.  
There's no light, no air, no anything. It's as if I don't exist.  
But I have to exist to be in this much pain.

I woke up with a giant gasp of air. I held my pillow against my mouth so I wouldn't scream and wake up Tails or Sonic in the other rooms.

"That dream again..." I whispered to myself, attempting to calm down.

I'm Amy. Amy Rose. After chasing him around a lot, Sonic sort of begrudgingly let me into his circle of friends. I even live at his house now. That silly crush of mine? That's so last year. No, I'm an independent woman now. I even learned how to use a gun to defend myself. It's slightly more effective then a toy hammer. Of course, it doesn't really matter now that Eggman is gone... I don't know what any of us are going to do with ourselves. Who needs heroes when all the villains are gone?

I suppose my reaction to Eggman's death was more subdued then I would have thought. I'm not the kind of person who believes bad people should be killed, but after all the monstrous things he had done? I suppose karma was bound to catch up with him eventually. That being said, not everything about the man was evil. He was brilliant, and he even helped us save the world from the ARK. Admittedly, he had been the cause of the whole mess, and then he used the chance to get Shadow's DNA to make Androids, but I try to look at the good aspects of people.

I heard the front door open and close softly. Not long after, I heard the "BOOM" Sonic always makes whenever he had made it to the speed of sound. Sonic hadn't taken Eggman's death very well, and it seemed odd to me, as he was always such a cool customer. He'd taken to sleeping in late, living in a fog, and running in circles around the house at night. I suppose that was just his way of dealing with the hurt.

I heard a knock on my bedroom door that interrupted my train of thought.

"Come in!" I chimed, in my annoyingly cheerful tone. Gotta work on that.

"H-hey Amy?" Said Tails, as he slowly entered the room. "I hope I didn't wake you..."

"It's all right, Sonic woke me up anyway." I made a patting motion on the bed. "Sit down, what's on your mind?"

Tails sat down and let out a deep sigh. "See, it's Sonic. You know, he hasn't been himself the last few weeks..."

"That's for sure."

"...But I don't know what I should do. Every time I try to talk to him, I just get a complete shutout. He's my best friend, but ever since Doctor Eggman died... I just can't get through to him, and it's killing me."

I took a good, long look at Tails. Truth be told, I didn't know what to say to him. Unfortunately, whatever comfort I was going to express was quickly cut short by a second sonic boom, this time very close. That was quickly followed the sound of something moving outside our house.

I snatched the pistol I kept stashed under my mattress. Muscle memory kicked in, and years of being ready to fight at any moment propelled Tails and I out the door at lightning speed. I didn't have time to process the loud sound of two objects colliding somewhere in the distance, because there was the additional shock of a two-story creature a few hundred feet away from us. Seven black, spindly legs that were rapidly approaching us were connected to groping pincers on a circular abdomen. Most terrifying of all were it's crimson eyes, which when I gazed into, pierced me with blinding pain. I managed to fire two shots at the beast from my pistol, before screaming with all my might as I tried not to lose consciousness from the ripping agony. I felt as if acid had been injected into my veins, and was slowly eating my body from the inside out. I saw Tails on the ground next to me, thrashing and writhing in agony as the monster bent down to ingest us. I heard a third sonic boom, and with that I blacked out.

* * *

**Chapter One**

It was as if her scream brought me out of the haze I'd been living in. Suddenly, I remembered who I was. I'm Sonic the Hedgehog. I'm a hero. Last time I checked, the scream of a woman is the call for a hero to jump into action.

Like we were of one mind, Shadow was off me in a second, and we were sprinting towards the house faster then the speed of sound. Luckily, it wasn't far from the precipice where I had been so rudely clobbered. Unluckily, I found the reason for Amy's scream.

Robots are a piece of cake to me. Ghosts, a little creepier, but still no problem. Heck, I've even smashed some aliens when it was needed. This thing was far worse then any of those. The only word I can use to describe the behemoth preparing to ingest my friends is evil. An overused adjective perhaps, but the only one that is fitting.

"Grab your friends, I'll destroy that wretched creature!" I heard Shadow yell from my right.

Instantly I was dashing and dodging the obsidian limbs that had rearranged themselves for battle. Shadow lunged toward the midsection with all his might. I grabbed Amy as she seemed in the worst condition and deposited her around a hundred feet from the fray.

"S-Sonic..." Tails mumbled as I scooped him up. I heard one of the monster's legs break. Good job, Shadow.

"Don't worry little buddy, Shadow and I have this one." I said reassuringly, despite my doubts.

"...Don't...make...eye...cont...act..." Tails whispered as his eyes glazed over, showing he had drifted into unconsciousness.

"GRAAAAAH...!!" I heard Shadow exclaim, and the crunching sound he made as he fell to the ground. He was simply laying there, twitching. I didn't have much time to think about it as the monster suddenly whirled around on it's six good legs, marking me as it's next target.

"Don't make eye contact!" I heard a mature feminine voice suddenly shout in my mind. Definitely not the voice of my best friend.

"Don't make eye contact, got it." I heard myself say in automatic response. Making careful note not to lock eyes with the beast, I began launching myself in a homing attack towards the joints of the legs. One by one they snapped as a result of my thrashing, and suddenly, with a loud scream like that of nails on a chalkboard, the monster went down. Crashing with a mighty "BOOM" rivaling the volume of me piercing the speed barrier, I saw the red eyes of the beast grow dull and fade away. Appearing simply out of thin air, a letter sealed with wax dropped into my hands. Unsealing the note, I found written in cursive script,

"Who needs heroes when all the villains are gone?"

Eggman's death wasn't the end. It was just the beginning.

_A/N: Thank you so much to those who reviewed my first chapter! To be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting such generally positive feedback, and hopefully I haven't blown everything with my second chapter. I was having a tough time deciding if switching perspectives was wise at this point in the story, especially it being this early on in my writing experiences. However, after careful deliberation, I decided this was the best way to convey information: Epitaphs as "get inside the character's head" segments, and Chapters being written strictly from Sonic's perspective, with a main focus on action._

_Please continue to let me know where I can work on my writing, as well as let me know if you are ENJOYING the story, as in my opinion, that is the most important part. _

_Oh and Trauts, I'll simply say this: I'm most assuredly not offended by your suggestion. Evil laughter. _


	3. Epitaph Three

**Epitaph Three**

"I...I stabbed him...!" I said tremblingly, in utter disbelief.

I looked down at my hands. Blood had completely drenched my snow-white gloves. I looked a little further up. A narrow piece of metal I'd broken in my rage was shoved straight through Doctor Eggman's chest.

"Sh-Shadow!?" I heard Sonic yell in a panic stricken voice from across the laboratory.

"Sonic!? Why are you here!?" I shouted as I whirled around, flecking blood spatter across the ceramic tile. There was no response. Just like his idiotic, run like the wind self, he had split without giving me a chance to explain.

It's hard to believe that two weeks ago, there was one moment my life had felt perfect. For once in my entire twisted life, I'd felt... happy. That's all gone now.

Shadow the Hedgehog. My name is one that strikes fear into many, and yet Sonic and his motley pie of friends treat me just like one of them. I may not show it, but I adore them for it. Created as the "Ultimate Life Form," I'm incredibly powerful. As far as I know, immortal too. Fifty or so years after my "birth," I don't look to have aged a day. It's a blessing and a curse that are mine alone to bear.

Two weeks ago from this wretched day, It was like any other afternoon. I was taking a break from my missions at G. U. N., the military employer I occasionally do work for. As I didn't have any plans for the day, and I hate wasting my time, I decided it was time to prove conclusively that the "Blue Blur" was NOT the fastest creature alive. If I'm being honest, this was just an excuse for me to spend some time with Sonic. Rash and immature as that idiot can be, I've grown rather fond of having his company. If I'm being completely honest, I've developed... unexpected feelings towards him. He is my polar opposite, and while I'd never tell him, there's nothing I like more then the feel of us racing side by side, faster then the speed of sound.

It wasn't that difficult to deduce his location. As it was a sunny day, he was dozing away lazily in the hammock outside his house. Not one for unnecessary politeness, I simply shoved him out it.

"...OW! What the HELL, Shadow!?" Sonic said, startled, as he unceremoniously fell on the grass.

"Time to race, faker." I replied in a flat, unemotional tone. Our eyes locked, and we instantly knew where the showdown would take place.

Stretched out in front of me was the long, loop-de-looping grassy plain of the Green Hill Zone. Tails had kindly volunteered to referee our race, as he was the only one we both trusted to be fair. Amy had also volunteered, but there was no way in hell I was trusting that tacky, pink, Sonic stalking creep to call OUR race. The race had classic rules, one lap around the entire zone, starting and ending in the same place. The flames in my rocket shoes flared as I prepared my start. I stole a look at Sonic's attractive, incredibly fit body. How did he look that way when he put away so many chili dogs? I couldn't let myself be distracted. Tails yelling the starting "GO!" forced me to organize my thoughts. I let Sonic get the early lead. Torn up ground and patches of grass were flying behind Sonic's feet, smoldering trails of ash behind mine. We both felt the incredible rush of breaking the sound barrier as we came off the first loop-de-loop, our agile bodies running neck and neck. Exhilaration shot through me as we sped around the semicircle turnaround of the zone, the lush scenery rushing past my ears with a zing. Exhilaration is something I rarely feel.

Using my superior eyesight, I could spot the finish line in the distance. Seizing my chance to win, I began maneuvers to push myself in front of Sonic. I didn't anticipate that Sonic would grab my arm. Pounding adrenaline from the race and alarm from the contact made my mind foggy and unfocused. I vaguely remember Sonic crossing the finish line, in first of course, but then we didn't stop. We kept running, his hand tightly clenching my limb. Moments, minutes, hours or however long it was later, we were stopped, sitting side by side in front of a lake. It was the last place I would have expected him to take me, not that I expected him to take me anywhere at all. Sonic's sharp voice cut through my mind clutter.

"Shadow, we're friends right?" He said, picking up a pebble and tossing it into the azure abyss.

"S-Sure we are Sonic." I managed to get out. I didn't know what to think, this was so unlike him.

"It's just, I find you difficult to get. You seem like a lone-wolf kinda guy, and yet you hang around with us a lot." He said, mindlessly playing with his quills as if I were the one acting strangely.

"I suppose, in a way, hanging out with you and your friends is a pleasant break from being a lone-wolf." I said, admitting more then I meant to. I noticed I was tearing up grass and throwing it on the ground. Nervous habit.

"So in a way...we make you happy?" He said, a slight smile playing on his features.

"You and Tails mostly. Not Amy." I said, struggling to get back into my aloof persona.

"Try giving her a chance, she might just surprise ya." He replied with a slight chuckle.

"Why did you bring me here anyway?" I said, slightly brasher then I meant to. I was bad at changing the subject.

"I just think it's a beautiful spot, don't you?"

I took a good look around the area. Trees were scattered everywhere with violet, red, and blue wildflowers splashed across the landscape.

"Regardless, why did you bring ME here?" I said, my sharp detection skills coming back to me.

"Don't worry about it Shadow buddy, just sit back and enjoy the view!" He said, letting out a deep sigh and falling on his back in the grass.

I probably would have smacked him on the head and let out something witty like "Do I look like the kind of idiot who wastes his time staring at stagnant bodies of water?", But I didn't get the chance. Sonic's previous sigh was the sound of him coming under the effect of a tranquilizer dart, and mine went into effect seconds after.

I woke up with a jolt. The first thing I felt was the presence of a Chaos Emerald. The second was the presence of Dr. Eggman.

"My dear friend Shadow, how are you this fine day?" Eggman said, stepping from behind the large apparatus that was obscuring him.

"A hell of a lot better before I saw you!" I retorted, attempting to lunge forward in assault. All my efforts granted me was a ripping pain in my arms and legs. Looking down, I saw that a horde of metal chains and wires held me inside the glass chamber I was looking out from.

"Now Shadow, how is that any way to greet your creator's favorite grandson?" He said in response, tapping his foot impatiently on the ceramic tile.

"Only grandson, and HELL what Gerald would think of you before he went insane." I spat, looking frantically around the chillingly vacant laboratory for some way of escape.

"Look all you wish Shadow, there's no escape so you might as well listen." He said with that familiar look of pride on his face. He always had been an idiotic, verbose bastard who gave away too much of his information. I grimaced and listened intently as he continued.

"You're hooked up directly to my latest and greatest invention, the EggReplicator!" He proliferated, going into some technical jargon I didn't care about. "Using this new tech, I'll replicate this chaos emerald seven times, saving me the meddlesome trouble of hunting down all of them!" He stated proudly, pulling a glittering green emerald out of his coat pocket.

"Blah, blah, blah, rule the world right? What does this have to do with me?" I shot at the doctor, hoping to get more information.

"Well, you being only thing I've ever successfully cloned--"

"--Hah, you call those pitiful androids a success! Laughable." I interjected, biding my energy for another escape effort.

"...And therefore, you'll hold the aforementioned emerald in place during the replication process." He finished, his trademark grin plastered unpleasantly on his face.

Playtime's over, I thought as the Doctor began inputting some commands to the machine by way of a touch screen. Gears began to whirr, electricity crackled in the cage I was in. A small robot was deployed to put the emerald into my confinement chamber. Inserted through a small hole in the top, the gem plopped gently into my outstretched palms. Big mistake Doctor. I imagine he had anticipated I'd use Chaos Control the moment I got the gem in my hands. I might not have cared enough about the specific details he spewed about his invention, but I picked up enough to know that the replication process needed some sort of massive burst of energy as a trigger. Chaos Control was the perfect thing, but unlike that dolt Knuckles, I wasn't going to let myself be manipulated. Chaos energy flared through my body, but I didn't let it take over me, or teleport me across the planet. Instead, I focused it on a single point: the appendages that bound me to the replication chamber. In a blaze of green light, I felt myself freed from my bonds. Then with a focused beam of energy, I sliced my way out of the chamber. Anger and rage pounded through my veins. The expression on the Doctor's face was that of pure terror. I liked it. I broke a long, slender metal bar off my previous prison.

I don't know why I did it. That's a lie. I did it because I wanted to, there was nobody there to stop me. I had a choice, a clear choice, but after everything he'd done, isn't this what everyone wanted? Wasn't this the answer? Countless times he'd had his opportunities for change, countless of his own choices to make. This was my choice, my time. I shoved that piece of metal through his chest with a satisfying crunch. He barely made a sound as his eyes turned dull. His breathing stopped.

"I...I stabbed him...!" I said tremblingly, in utter disbelief.

I looked down at my hands. Blood had completely drenched my snow-white gloves.

"Sh-Shadow!?" I heard Sonic yell in a panic stricken voice from across the laboratory.

"Sonic!? Why are you here!?" I shouted as I whirled around, flecking blood spatter across the ceramic tile. There was no response. Just like his idiotic, run like the wind self, he had split without giving me a chance to explain.

I'm sitting here with a brain-splitting headache. I spent two weeks thinking of a way to explain everything to Sonic. Why was he even there at all? What had happened to him after we were knocked unconscious? Too many questions. Even after I tried to speak with him, we were interrupted by some wretched creature, and of COURSE I was knocked unconscious, AGAIN. Did they defeat it? Where the hell did that thing come from? Why was I dumped here in KNUCKLES house of all places? Couldn't Sonic just speak to me for 5 FREAKING minutes!? Damn you, Sonic the Hedgehog, and to HELL with all your stupid friends.

* * *

_A/N: Whoa, I have a lot to address here._

_First, yes, in my story, Shadow is assuredly feeling something more then friendship towards Sonic. I apologize to any of my readers who are offended by this, but for the direction I want my story to take, it's an important point._

_Second, thank you so much to the people who've been reading my story so far! I wasn't able to update quickly as I'd have liked because this past week a hurricane tore through our property and I had to help clean up the mess._

_Third, an EXTRA thank you to those who gave huge, meaty, descriptive reviews of my work, especially Solis Knight and Trauts. It means a lot to have such lengthy descriptions of where I can improve, and it keeps me going knowing that my writing style is one you find worth spending the time showing me how to improve. I tried my best to follow your advice with this Epitaph, and I have clear ideas now of what I'm going to do with Chapter Two._

_Fourth, Dollhouse kicks so much ass._

_I think that just about covers it, thank you everyone for making my first story feel so full of possibilities. To be honest, I think I write crap, but hey, if people keep reading it, I'll try to improve!_


End file.
